The latest shutdown comes a month after Gazprom restored gas supplies through the pipeline to just one-fifth of its capacity following an earlier shutdown for maintenance. Russia blamed the reductions through the pipeline on technical problems, but Germany called the shutdown a political move by the Kremlin to sow uncertainty and raise prices amid the conflict in Ukraine. Natural gas prices rose on Friday after the announcement and are now more than double what they were a year ago. In a statement posted online, Gazprom said the planned shutdown from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 is for “routine maintenance” at a key compressor station along the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which links western Russia and Germany. Natural gas prices have risen as Russia cut or cut off natural gas flows to a dozen European Union countries, fueling inflation and increasing the risk that Europe could sink into recession. Germany’s economy ministry said in an email to The Associated Press that it has taken note of Gazprom’s planned shutdown of Nord Stream 1. “We are monitoring the situation in close cooperation with the Federal Network Agency” which regulates natural gas markets, the ministry said. “Natural gas flows through Nord Stream 1 are currently unchanged at 20%. The recently announced maintenance outage raises additional fears that Russia could cut off natural gas altogether to try to gain political leverage in Europe as it tries to increase storage levels for the winter. Germany recently announced that its natural gas storage facilities had reached 75% of capacity, two weeks ahead of the September 1 target date. Germans have been told to reduce their use of natural gas now so that the country has enough for the coming winter. Gazprom said that once the work is completed, the flow of natural gas through Nord Stream 1 will continue at the previous level of 33 million cubic meters, or just 20% of the pipeline’s capacity. Routine maintenance will be carried out jointly with Siemens experts, Gazprom said in a report to its German partner, Siemens Energy.
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